おやすみなさい, my little ones, おやすみなさい
by candelight
Summary: Turtle tots fic! Yes, it's in English. I thought it might be cute to put the Japanese part in. Splinter prepares his little ones for bed during the holiday season, hoping for no nightmares-at least for tonight.


Konnichiwa, everybody! The turtles put up the struggle against what every child must face......

BEDTIME.

If you want the full effects of the song, type in the song "Zanarkand" or, "Zelda's lullaby." It's truly beautiful and haunting, (especially the first song, so hopefully it will go along with the story.

Konbanwa and I hope you like!

海は広いな 大きいな  
月が昇るし 日が沈む

海は大波 青い波  
揺れてどこまで続くやら

海にお船を 浮かばせて  
行ってみたいな よその国.......

A very young Leo desperately tried to hide his giggles as Splinter swept past his bad hiding place. Splinter paused, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmmm......this is quite strange. I seem to _recall _my sons being here before I left."

Don crouched down lower beside the basket, hoping he'd stay out of sight.

"Why on earth would they NOT be here?" Splinter asked himself slightly, fighting back a smile. Ah.....it was too late. A big grin was on the aged rat's face.

Mikey tried to muffle a snicker from where he hid on the bed the four shared under the quilts.

"Did they simply.....vanish? Are they in the other room?" Splinter quickly left for the hall outside for a moment. "Ah.....apparently not. Well, they can't hide from _me."_

Raph's eyes gleamed, a jingly feeling in his stomach from where he lay under the bed.

"This is quite a mystery! Are they.............here?" asked Splinter dramatically as he pulled a basket towards him. Nope.

Mikey was now literally dying with laughter. I'm not kidding. Dying.

"How about.............._here?"_

Splinter looked beside the little chest of drawers they shared.

"Or maybe.......HERE!"

And, so saying, he pulled the small rug on the floor to find Leo.

Leo meeped and tried to scurry-or really toddle-off, but Splinter playfully grabbed him.

"Ah.....So THERE you are."

Leo was screaming merrily as Splinter hugged him close to the faded brown fabric of his robe.

"Well, now Leonardo, I'm surprised that you would simply vanish off the face of the earth.

Leo continued to happily giggle.

"And.....are you SURE your brothers didn't flee to another country?"

Mikey couldn't take it any longer. He rolled out from the blankets and quilts Splinter had stacked on this cold winter night, positively crying with mirth.

Splinter raised an eyebrow and smiled again.

"Well, well, now, Michelangelo. What a pleasure for you for you to join us."

Mikey only laughed harder as Splinter gently swept him off the bed.

"And....will you join us too, Donatello?"

Oh rats......he was caught by the rat! Donatello attempted to scurry away, but Splinter leapt forward and clasped his arm.

Don closed as his eyes as he giggled, straining to get free.....but not really trying very hard.

"And.....I think it may be possible............" Splinter paused and quickly bent down to look under the bed.

"-to find a Raphael here!"

"Augh!" exclaimed Raph, desperately wriggling against the wall in a futile attempt at escape.

"Git' hm, Sei-sei!" exclaimed Don and Mikey, still clasped protectively in Splinter's arms.

"Tators!" exclaimed Raph. (Nothing is cuter for these little guys then a speech impediment.) "Run, Leo!"

With a huge smile, Leo scurried away. Splinter in pursuit.

Running throughout their tiny abode, Splinter play ran at not being able to catch Leo, finally reaching across the table to snag Leo close.

"Oof!" exclaimed Leo, still happily smiling. He turned to look at Splinter. "Oof."

"Gotcha," said Splinter with a small smile, giving Leo a kiss on the forehead. "Now," he said seriously, turning around. "Bath time, little ones."

Silence. No one was there.

Splinter smiled, and took Leo's tiny hand in his own.

"Come, my little one. Lt us drag your brothers out of hiding."

* これを読むことができればこんにちは日本語を翻訳するか、または学んだ! 優秀!

For amphibians, the turtles certainly weren't a big fan of water.

Or.....well, they DID like the warm, bubbly water....

...but they objected somewhat to the soap and rags.

Don scrunched up his little face as Splinter gently rubbed the bath rag, trying to remove any dust that might've formed there under the tables.

Splinter hummed a little melody as he moved to Mikey, who was busy playing with a plastic toy boat.

Christmas was coming in three weeks. The little ones didn't really understand the concept of Christmas very well, except that it had to do with some dude in red who didn't kill you if were good.

(Sorry...I must sound psychotic.)

Splinter moved to Raph, who, like Don, was busy playing with the pristine silver bubbles. Leo was holding one in his hand, blinking in puzzlement when it popped, wondering where it had meant.

Splinter was just learning English in this strange new country, but he was getting more fluent each day. The babies had progressed a little....but could only say two or three words each. Like their father, it was mostly Japanese.

He hummed a little as he simply sat back and watched his little ones timidly have fun in the water. Their progress had at first been almost explosive.....but now, it had really slowed down. They were about the same as two year olds...and yet still newborns....

Splinter wondered if he would ever fully understand. Probably not.

He hummed the old, one song he knew in English. Ironically, it was a holiday song.

_Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells__  
__all seem to say, throw cares away._  
_Christmas is here, bringing good cheer_  
_to young and old, meek and the bold_  
_Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song......_

"Ding.......Dong......dingdingdingdingding......" commented Leo, peering at Splinter with interest.

Splinter smiled, and lifted each turtle out, reaching for a towel.

Raph chirped unhappily as Splinter carefully tucked them in. They seemed to heartily dislike sleeping, for some reason or another.

Usually, when one would have a nightmare and start crying at the end of night, he got a clue why.

Ah.....time for the secret weapon.

Splinter turned to the item kept nearby-the item that had belonged to his master Yoshi.

The little music box.

It was a strange, beautiful, dusty old thing. When you turned the key one way, it gave the tinkling tune of Carol of the Bells. If you turned it another way, it gave the tune of Zanarkand.

It only took one song to KO the little ones.

Splinter smiled, and patted each head reassuringly ads the snowstorm raged outside.

"It is alright, my little ones....."

So saying, he opened the china blue box and twisted the key.

It was the only item Yoshi had inherited from his mother (Japanese) and his father (Chinese) before they died at Hiroshima. It was precious.

And, it usually succeeded in driving away the nightmares that would plague his little ones.

Usually, Splinter, feeling extremely foolish, would tell the evil sprites that haunted his sons' dreams to begone, a ritual that had become more common with the large now amount....

_With joyful ring, all caroling__  
__One seems to hear words of good cheer_  
_From everywhere, filling the air_  
_O, how they pound, raising the sound_  
_Over hill and dale, telling their tale_

Ah...it seemed to be doing it's job.

_Gaily they ring, while people sing__  
__Songs of good cheer, Christmas is here!_  
_Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!_  
_Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!_

Already, as Splinter gently blew out the flickering candlelight, the "spell" seemed to be taking effect. As the room was drowned in darkness, you could see more then one pair of eyes flickering.

_On, on they send, on without end__  
__their joyful tone to every home_  
_Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells_  
_all seem to say, throw cares away._  
_Christmas is here, bringing good cheer_  
_to young and old, meek and the bold_  
_Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song_  
_with joyful ring, all caroling._  
_One seems to hear words of good cheer_  
_from everywhere, filling the air_  
_O, how they pound, raising the sound_  
_Oer hill and dale, telling their tale...._

Actually, as Splinter quietly stepped to the door, it was making HIM feel sleepy.

_Gaily they ring, while people sing__  
__Songs of good cheer, Christmas is here!_  
_Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!_  
_Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!_

_On, on they send, on without end_  
_their joyful tone to every home._  
_Ding dong ding dong....._

Splinter turned with a smile. Already, there was deep breathing. He only hoped it would stay that way tonight.

Before retiring himself, he stopped one more time, turned, and smiled.

"やすみなさい、私の小さいもの、おやすみなさい......"

"Good night, my little ones. Goodnight."


End file.
